The Choice

The Hidden Stone corpses at the breach were piled half a man high, but more enemies kept pouring in, trampling their comrades' blood as they closed the encirclement again.

"Tian Shan has run at least a kilometer." Mita's voice was low, but his sensory abilities were suppressed to less than twenty percent of normal in the ravine region. One kilometer was already his limit.

Sakumo's blade pointed downward, and the knuckles gripping its hilt had turned an unhealthy bluish white.

"Mita, sense for any living chakra to the north."

Mita opened his eyes and shook his head.

Sakumo pulled out the strip of cloth from his robe. The three symbols drawn in charcoal ash had already blurred somewhat. The informant had been discovered, but he had left a coded message, changing the rendezvous point. If Sakumo did not go to the new meeting place now, the informant might die, and the deployment map of Hidden Stone's eastern defensive line might fall into enemy hands. In the years to come, Konoha might lose many more lives against Hidden Stone.

But if he left now, Tian Shan would die.

Sakumo clenched the cloth strip into a ball in his palm.

"Mita, what do you think about the deployment map of Hidden Stone's eastern defensive line?"

"That map is very important." Mita considered his words. "Konoha has always been at a disadvantage in intelligence gathering against Hidden Stone since the war. Hidden Stone's garrison along the eastern border has nearly doubled in size compared to before the war. We severely lack data on its exact deployments, troop distribution, and rotation cycles. If we can obtain a complete deployment map, Konoha will gain an enormous advantage in diplomatic and military negotiations over the next three years. That advantage could save many lives."

Yeah! The mission came first!

Completing the mission was important!

But... years ago, a ten-year-old brat had come back to save me too!

Sakumo took a signal flare from his robes, pulled the safety pin, and fired it into the sky. A red flare burst amid the gray-blue dusk, staining half the sky the color of blood. It could be seen from dozens of miles away. Other Konoha ninja operating in the Land of Grass would see it.

The light would tell everyone that this place needed reinforcements. It would also tell Hidden Stone's people that Konoha ninja were here. Come quickly.

Sakumo turned and headed south, in the direction Tian Shan had fled.

Mita gave a bitter smile. He assessed his physical condition, shook his head, and hurried after him.

The traces Tian Shan had left behind were easy to find. His bare footprints varied in depth across the gravelly ground. The deep ones sank half a foot deep, while the shallow ones left only streaks of blood on the stones. The tracks led straight south. Sakumo raced along them so quickly that Mita could barely keep up.

Mita's stamina had already reached its limit, but his pace did not slow.

Tian Shan's tracks ended behind a clump of dead brush. Someone had kicked apart the footprints and bloodstains on the gravel, urgently and messily.

Sakumo crouched and pressed his palm to the ground. It was still slightly warm. Tian Shan had stopped here, and he was not far away.

Suddenly, Mita's expression changed. "Enemies ahead."

"They caught up with Tian Shan."

Just then, two figures burst from the bushes on either side of the trench. Kunai stabbed toward Sakumo's chest and ribs from both directions. Sakumo moved to block them. Before his blade's momentum faded, its tip swept across the throat of the man on the left. The man on the right retreated the instant his kunai was knocked away, but Sakumo's blade had already cut from his collarbone to his ribs, exposing a layer of white fibers along the tear in his combat uniform. Behind him, Mita caught the third man lunging in from the flank, driving the kunai in his left hand through the man's shoulder blade.

When Sakumo charged out of the trench, he saw Tian Shan.

Tian Shan was leaning against a rock. The bandages around his right ribs had been soaked through with blood, which seeped from the gaps and pooled into a dark red stain along his waist. His right arm hung at his side, powerless from shoulder to fingertips. He gripped a scalpel in his left hand, pointing it at the two people surrounding him.

One lens of his glasses had shattered, and a streak of blood marked the corner of his mouth.

A jōnin stood at the front, forming hand seals with both hands, about to unleash a ninjutsu.

Sakumo arrived.

His short blade came in through the jōnin's blind spot. The jōnin reacted quickly, leaning forward the instant the blade touched his combat uniform. The edge only left a wound across his back.

He drew a kunai from his waist with his backhand and stabbed at Sakumo's abdomen.

Sakumo twisted aside. The kunai grazed his waist. He struck, slashing upward with his short blade. Its edge cut across the jōnin's wrist.

The kunai flew from his hand. The jōnin clutched his wrist and staggered back, glanced at Sakumo, then turned and ran.

Mita climbed out of the trench. Seeing Tian Shan seated against the rock, he walked over and felt Tian Shan's carotid artery with his left hand.

"Alive."

Tian Shan opened his eyes. Through the shattered lens, he saw Mita's face. His right eye was smeared with blood, and he could not see clearly. His lips moved. His voice was very soft, but Sakumo heard him.

"You shouldn't have come... the deployment map..."

Sakumo crouched, pulled bandages and hemostatic powder from Tian Shan's ninja pouch, and treated the wound in Tian Shan's right ribs again.

"The deployment map can be obtained later. If you die, you won't come back."

Tian Shan said nothing. His lips trembled faintly.

Sakumo helped Tian Shan up from the ground and supported him over his shoulder. Mita stood on Sakumo's right, gripping a kunai in his left hand as he faced north.

The footsteps of the pursuers from the north were drawing closer. After receiving the jōnin's signal for help, Hidden Stone had pulled more men from nearby outposts and sent them rushing over.

Sakumo supported Tian Shan as they headed south. Mita walked on his right. The three stayed close together.

Tian Shan's consciousness struggled repeatedly between blood loss and pain. He would wake for a while, then pass out again.

Sakumo's voice came from above him. "Tian Shan, don't sleep. If you sleep, you won't wake up."

Tian Shan opened his eyes. The moon shone overhead, round and bright.

"Captain Sakumo."

"Mm."

"The mission wasn't completed. You'll be in a lot of trouble."

Sakumo did not answer.

Tian Shan's lips were cracked. He pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, trying to gather a little saliva, but could not. He swallowed dry air and continued, his voice broken and intermittent.

"Your situation... I've heard a little about it. If you go back like this... the Third Hokage will have a hard time with you."

He coughed, tugging at his wound. Pain made his entire upper body tremble.

"Shut up."

Sakumo adjusted him higher onto his back and kept walking.

Tian Shan lay on Sakumo's back, feeling his consciousness begin to sink again.

"Captain."

"Speak."

"If you go back empty-handed... the matter of becoming a Hokage candidate... might be over."

"Then it's over."

Tian Shan wanted to smile, but the corner of his mouth would not move.

"Captain,"

"..."

"My son will be a month old soon. When we get back, I'll buy you a drink."